Background
I have the following fish in a 50 gallon freshwater tank:
2 Zebra Danios
4 Harlequin Rasboras
1 Golden Gourami
1 Platy
1 Albino catdish
2 Rainbowfish
I originally had two Gouramis and 5 Rainbow Fish. I lost 3 fish two months ago by overdosing on an algae remover on accident. Not my proudest moment to say the least! I have since given up on any chemical algae removers and installed a UV sterilizer to my canister filter to help remove any algae blooms. In addition I added the following products to the canister: (i) phosguard - to remove any phosphate from the water column, (ii) purigen and Boyd's Chemi-pure to remove any other impurities from the water (iii) cuprisorb - to remove any heavy metals in the tap water.
The Problem
The algae problem has been resolved and the water has never been more clear, however I lost another rainbow fish a week ago. The fish had no sign of disease. In can only come up with the following potential problem: (i) the additional resins in the canister filter is removing something the fish might need, ie: trace elements, or (ii) the PH of the tap water and in the tank is 7.4 which might be too alkaline for the fish I have.
Do I need to adjust PH, and if so what is a good PH level for the fish I have? Should I add trace elements to the tank?
Any help would be appreciated.
I have the following fish in a 50 gallon freshwater tank:
2 Zebra Danios
4 Harlequin Rasboras
1 Golden Gourami
1 Platy
1 Albino catdish
2 Rainbowfish
I originally had two Gouramis and 5 Rainbow Fish. I lost 3 fish two months ago by overdosing on an algae remover on accident. Not my proudest moment to say the least! I have since given up on any chemical algae removers and installed a UV sterilizer to my canister filter to help remove any algae blooms. In addition I added the following products to the canister: (i) phosguard - to remove any phosphate from the water column, (ii) purigen and Boyd's Chemi-pure to remove any other impurities from the water (iii) cuprisorb - to remove any heavy metals in the tap water.
The Problem
The algae problem has been resolved and the water has never been more clear, however I lost another rainbow fish a week ago. The fish had no sign of disease. In can only come up with the following potential problem: (i) the additional resins in the canister filter is removing something the fish might need, ie: trace elements, or (ii) the PH of the tap water and in the tank is 7.4 which might be too alkaline for the fish I have.
Do I need to adjust PH, and if so what is a good PH level for the fish I have? Should I add trace elements to the tank?
Any help would be appreciated.